Although, technically, Off Road Speedway isn’t his home track, since the Dirt Crown Super Late Model Racing Series travels more regionally than its occasional appearances at area tracks, Norfolkan Tad Pospisil’s performances–including Saturday night’s win as part of the annual Bob Haase Memorial event–at the local track suggests he considers it home sweet home.
Pospisil’s win–which earned a $5,000 purse–was his fifth in the 14 SLMR visits to Off Road Speedway, his third in a row at the track, and his 53rd career SLMR victory overall.
In addition, Saturday night’s win in the SLMR dual (east and west divisions), along with a win at Deshler’s Thayer County Speedway Friday night, completed a sweep of the weekend’s SLMR dual competition.
Notably, Pospisil–making the most of a starting position on the pole in both races–led every one of the 60 combined laps during those two victories.
Starting on the pole didn’t alter the challenges offered by the competition, however, as Pospisil held off race-long battles with Malvern, IA, driver Jesse Sobbing for three laps, then–after a caution caused by Sobbing’s flat tire forced a restart–held off Renner, SD, racer Blair Nothdruft during the next nine trips around the track.
Another restart replaced Nothdruft with Alvo driver Dylan Sillman who, along with Jake Neal, pursued Pospisil the rest of the way in the 30-lap race, including the final 15 laps when the leaders caught up to lapped traffic.
Pospisil handled the challenge by deftly weaving his way between and around slower cars, although Sillman–as well as Nothdurft and Neal–remained ready to take advantage of any miscue.
Ultimately, Pospisil protected what became a multi-car length lead, with Sillman finishing second and Nothdurft taking third.
Rounding out the top five were Omaha driver Neal in fourth place and Andrew Kosiski of LaVista in fifth.
Area Late Model drivers participating included Plainview’s Beau Johnson, with an 11th-place finish, along with Norfolk drivers Ben Sukup (14th) and JR Coover (18th) among the 24-car field.
The rest of Saturday night’s racing car included closely-contest battles in the IMCA Stock Cars “A” feature where Norfolk’s Kaden Reynolds pulled even with race leader Derek Sehi on the backstretch, then gained the advantage as the two exited turn four, to edge Sehi–of Neligh–for the win.
Norfolk’s Tejay Mielke, the current points leader in the division, defended his 17-point advantage over Sehi with a third-place finish.
Similarly, Nate Buck of Neligh’s feature win in the IMCA Hobby Stocks feature was also the result of a maneuver late in the race.
After moving forward through the field from a starting position on the inside of the sixth of 10 rows, Buck joined Tyler Thompson in pursuit of race leader Jason Wilkinson.
Buck passed Wilkinson, who had held the lead for a dozen laps, with a slide job in turn two that paid off as the two drivers made their way out of turn four just before a caution forced a restart with six laps remaining.
Buck held on for the win, while Thompson–of Juniata–squeezed past Wilkinson during the final lap to edge the Neligh driver at the finish line in the competition for second and third.
Jonathan Jensen’s win in the IMCA SportMods feature race also involved overcoming not only a starting position from near the back of the field but also a 10-lap battle with pursuers including Justin Addison of Meadow Grove, Norfolk’s Colby Langenberg, and Cameron Meyer of Pierce.
After taking the lead from Addison, Langenberg joined the chase until his spin out in turn two forced a restart that brought Meyer and Addison to Jensen’s rear bumper.
Addison, after returning to second ahead of Meyer, repeatedly made attempts but could not complete the pass, eventually settling for second place with points leader Meyer finishing third.
Norfolk’s Bentley Freeman earned his fourth Off Road Speedway win in eight tries Saturday night, taking first place in the IMCA Sport Compacts division.
Freeman, who started at the rear of the five rows of cars, made his move into second place with seven laps left then, two laps later, passed leader Johnny Thomas.
Freeman denied Thomas’ final attempt to pass on the inside of turn four with during the white flag lap and, although the two cars were side-by-side down the backstretch of the final lap, Freeman secured the win and maintained his narrow points lead (five points) over Thomas.
Thomas, of Beatrice, was second while Kiegan Werner of Pierce finished third.
The Crown Vics feature race, which was affected by a noticeable number of flat tire issues for various cars, was ironically won by a car with flat rear tires.
Norfolk’s Aden Mielke didn’t acquire the lead until race leader Brok Benck’s misfortune–a breakdown with five laps left–but then had to navigate his car, with the two flat tires, through the finish line just ahead of Gage Kimmel of Hoskins in what had become a two-car battle for the win.
While Kimmel, the points leader, took second, Allen driver Kaleb Bruggemann finished third after winning his own two-car competition with Damon Arehart of Neligh.
Results from August 8: (All drivers from Norfolk unless indicated)
DIRT CROWN SUPER LATE MODELS: (24 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Tad Pospisil; 2. Dylan Sillman, Alvo; 3. Blair Nothdurft, Renner, SD; 4. Jake Neal, Omaha; 5. Andrew Kosiski, LaVista; 6. Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth; 7. JC Wyman, Griswold, IA; 8. Bill Leighton, LaVista; 9. Jesse Sobbing, Malvern, IA; 10. Kyle Berck, Marquette; 11. Beau Johnson, Plainview; 12. Corey Zeitner, Omaha; 13. CJ Horn, Cedar Rapids, IA; 14. Ben Sukup; 15. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown, IA; 16. Jack Snoberger, Aurora; 17. Harrison Horn, Cedar Rapids, IA; 18. JR Coover; 19. Micah Brown, Blair; 20. Kale Kosiski, Ralston; 21. Jadyn Friesen, Sutton; 22. Charlie McKenna, Ames, IA; 23. Mike Collins, New Orleans, LA; 24. Jason Hahne, Webster City, IA. (Heat 1) 1. Friesen, 2. K. Kosiski, 3. Hahne, 4. Sillman. (Heat 2) 1. Pospisil, 2. Collins, 3. A. Kosiski, 4. Johnson. (Heat 3) 1. Nothdurft, 2. Zeitner, 3. Wyman, 4. Hobscheidt. (Qualifying 1) 1. Hahne, 13.809. (Qualifying 2) 1. Sobbing, 13.741. (Qualifying 3) 1. Neal, 13.739.
IMCA STOCK CARS: (13 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Kaden Reynolds; 2. Derek Sehi, Neligh; 3. Tejay Mielke; 4. Kyle Wilkinson, Neligh; 5. Nate DeSive, O’Neill; 6. Chad Bruns, Wayne; 7. Ryan Rhode, Winside; 8. Eric Hanson, Scribner; 9. Lowell Roeber, Winnebago; 10. Chuck Sands, Neligh; 11. Neil Bruns; 12. Bo Koenig-Cleveland; 13. (DNS) Cameron Wilkinson, Neligh. (Heat 1) 1. C. Bruns, 2. Sehi. (Heat 2) 1. Reynolds, 2. K. Wilkinson.
IMCA HOBBY STOCKS: (20 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Nate Buck, Neligh; 2. Tyler Thompson, Juniata; 3. Jason Wilkinson, Neligh; 4. Dakota Spann, Wayne; 5. Brayden Hurley, Grand Island; 6. Trevor Frisch; 7. Travis Landauer, Albion; 8. Anthony Nelson, Plainview; 9. Jordan Uehling; 10. Josh Fajman, Albion; 11. Hans Houfek, Emerson; 12. Gage Koch; 13. Haydn Houfek, Emerson; 14. Trevor Pettitt; 15. Mark Arduser, Battle Creek; 16. Joe Rosberg; 17. Dalton Young, Albion; 18. Anson Hawthorne, Battle Creek; 19. Wyatt Lehman; 20. Shaughn Hexdrix, Scribner. (“B” feature) 1. Hurley, 2. Frisch, 3. Fajman, 4. Rosberg. (Heat 1) 1. Nelson, 2. A. Hawthorne. (Heat 2) 1. Young, 2. Buck. (Heat 3) 1. Wilkinson, 2. Landauer. (Heat 4) 1. J. Uehling, 2. H. Houfek.
IMCA SPORTMODS: (10 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Jonathan Jensen; 2. Justin Addison, Meadow Grove; 3. Cameron Meyer, Pierce; 4. Landyn Roebuck, Genoa; 5. Terry Kester, Oakdale; 6. Tim Swartz, Lincoln; 7. Colby Langenberg; 8. Michael Kramer, Lyons; 9. Stephanie Reynolds; 10. Joey Haase. (Heat 1) 1. Addison, 2. Roebuck. (Heat 2) 1. Meyer, 2. Kramer.